Procrastination Station

I've been blowing through book left and right lately. In fact, since I put up the "What I'm Reading Now" thing on the right-hand side of my blog, I have changed the middle book three times. It doesn't make sense that I am reading so much at this time of the year-- I have papers due, finals to stress about, and one really evil professor to try and impress. And yet, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Historically, I avoid work by either sleeping or reading. Reading often works better for me than sleeping, because while stress can keep me away for hours, stress in fact drives me to read.

It's cliche to say, but books are an escape for me. The sad fact is that if I'm engrossed in a book, people have a hard time reaching me. I remember once in elementary school, I was busy reading while my teacher was taking roll. She called my name five times before I snapped out of whatever fog I was wandering through and answered her. Surprisingly, she wasn't mad at all for this inconvenience; to her, this was a sign of my English majoriness to come. Oh, little did she know.

Another story, slightly more embarrassing perhaps, is when I managed to read myself out of a bedroom door. Instead of cleaning my room (which was always-- and still is-- a mess), I was lock my door and pick up whatever novel happened to be lying around. Well, eventually my parents caught me and decided that I didn't deserve the privacy. So they took the hinges out from my bedroom door, leaving it propped up against my wall and my doorway open to the elements. Not that this stopped me from avoiding tidying up, but it certainly wore down my patience when I had to stomp to the bathroom every time I had to change clothing.

Frankly, this reading thing as been a blessing and a serious albatross around my neck. I can't stand the temptation. In fact, I've just finished a paper and, though I still have other assignments to do, I am going to take a hot shower, read for an hour, then go to sleep. I'll regret it when I'm sleep-deprived and crying into my laptop later in the week.

K.